Page 78 of Happily Never After

Mindy popped out from behind one of the velvet curtains. She sneezed and dropped her phone. Luke stormed over, expression broody and unreadable.

“There’s something inside. If I can just—” She twisted the base in her hands. It unscrewed and popped off. A tube of paper slid into her gloved hand.

“Holy shit.” Luke and Mindy crowded around her. Claire held her breath and unfurled the paper. Two things emerged—a flyer of some sort and what appeared to be a handwritten list of topics.

She spread them on the floor and glanced over them. Unfortunately, the handwritten list didn’t have names—just weird topics.

“The Dangers of Women in the Workplace, Reclaiming Your Sacred Masculinity, Women and the ‘Five Acceptables.’ What the hell is this about?” Luke’s voice was sharp. One hand curled protectively over the small of Claire’s back.

Her breath caught in her chest. “The flyer. Do you see this?”

“Men’s Rights Conference. Los Angeles. May thirteenth,” he read.

Shockwaves coursed through her body. “Guys, this is it. Our chance to catch ESA.”

“You mean the FBI’s chance to catch ESA,” he corrected. His grip on her tightened.

“Right, the FBI. Shit. I better call Jack.”

Mindy carefully tucked the flyer and paper into a ziplock bag as Claire dialed Jack’s number.

Tingles ran up and down her arms. For the first time in days, there was a tiny glimmer of hope. Maybe things would work out after all—ESA would be remanded into custody and she could finally go back to her busy and beautiful life of being a proposal planner.

“What’s wrong?” Jack’s voice was sharp.

“We’re at the ESA house at San Fernando University.”

Jack swore. “What are you doing there? We already swept that house.”

“You did?” She made a face at Luke and Mindy. “Well, then your guys did a shitty job. We found something.”

There was a pause on the other end. “What is it?”

“A flyer. For a men’s rights conference in Los Angeles. Two weeks from now.”

Jack sighed. There was another pause. “We’re aware of the conference.”

“And the fact that we found a flyer for it in an ESA house is not at all suspicious to you? Come on, this one is a no-brainer. ESA’s going to be there.”

“We’re going to handle it, Claire. Now please get out of there before you get arrested for breaking and entering.”

The call disconnected.

“He hung up on me. Did you hear that? He basically told me to shut up. I didn’t even have a chance to tell him about the handwritten note?—”

“He just wants you to stay out of it,” Luke said. “Come on, let’s go. You have a therapy appointment first thing in the morning.”

“I do?”

“You do now. In case you forgot, you were almost abducted today.” Luke tucked his phone into his jeans.

Her stomach tightened. Breaking into the ESA house had been a wonderful distraction from the events of that afternoon. Now she was going to have to speak to Dr. Goulding and hash through everything. Was she even ready to talk about it?

Claire allowed him to steer her out of the house and back into the car. ESA was in the FBI’s hands now. Probably.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

To Do:

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